Dome’s Bony Lament

These are the walls painted by German street artist Dome, who first discovered spray paint in 1995 and his works have been shown in exhibitions all over Germany and Italy since 2001. He studied communications design at the Academy of Art in Mainz, Germany, and in 2010 he moved his focus from spray paint to drawing in ink. His website includes a page of pictures of Dome working in his studio in Karlsruhe, Germany – a city located near the country’s south-west side close to the French border.

His works all have the same dark, satirical style to them – black broken up bodies detailed with simple white lines that hint at the bones underneath, heads usually covered by the head of an animal, and the animal heads all have strings coming from their bases so that we know they’re just masks. There are lots of umbrellas and keys, and most have a sense of humor that eases the lament of the central figure that seems to symbolize what we’ve lost.

 

"ark istanbul"

“ark istanbul”

Freedom is Painful 5m x 7m mixed media on wall at Leoncavallo in Milano/Italy May 2012

Freedom is Painful
5m x 7m
mixed media on wall
at Leoncavallo in Milano/Italy May 2012

 

Body parts float like they’d been cast as part of a voodoo fortune charm, hovering and just for a second tricking your eyes into believing that magic is real. The floating sticks of black arrange themselves into a posture, lunging forward so that it’s tied on elk’s head can scream into a megaphone. There’s no one there though, just a pile of upturned umbrellas. Above his head, skeletons hold a ribbon reading “Freedom in painful,” and on the bottom of the framed scene lies another ribbon that commemorates a life lived from 1975-2012. (if you know the word or its translation, please comment!) Leaves fall around the entire scene – they’re a delicate white at the top, but at the bottom they’re black and roughly outlined.

 

Des Todes Bruder (death’s brother) 2,3m x 8,2m Karlsruhe/Germany-Entenfang-an der Alb 2012

Des Todes Bruder (death’s brother)
2,3m x 8,2m
Karlsruhe/Germany-Entenfang-an der Alb
2012

“no titel” 3,5 m x 1,8 m stencil on wall june 2012 Vienna/Austria at Sabotage Films

“no titel”
3,5 m x 1,8 m
stencil on wall
june 2012
Vienna/Austria at Sabotage Films

 

 

 

“Holding Hands” shows a simplification of Dome’s aesthetic that integrates with the environment – street art at its best.

A giant hand reaches up, formed by the base of the column supporting the highway above, and long skinny fingers stretch on to the concrete’s underbelly with wrinkles and nails outlined in rough, swirled lines of white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Holding Hands”  Karlsruhe/Germany Acrylic on concrete 2013 -04

“Holding Hands”
Karlsruhe/Germany
Acrylic on concrete
2013 -04

 

For more of Dome’s work, see his website.

 

 

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